


The mysterious case of Steve Rogers' shirts

by PrinceofBadassery



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, The Avengers and Bucky, and a ridiculous amount of captain america shirts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-14
Updated: 2014-06-14
Packaged: 2018-02-04 15:04:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1783300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrinceofBadassery/pseuds/PrinceofBadassery
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the Avengers decide to play a prank on Captain America it usually ends in disaster, unless it doesn't for once. </p><p>"No face in the mirror" universe basically.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The mysterious case of Steve Rogers' shirts

**Author's Note:**

> Written at 1am I take no responsibility. The idea came from a headcanon I developed with my Natasha yesterday and she demanded it needs to be written. English is not my first language.

Natasha notices everything. It’s not necessarily that she wants to observe her team-mates to the point where every tiny detail catches her eye, it just kind of happens. Old habits die hard, or so they say. So of course she notices the shirts.

Steve’s shirts.

It started out rather unremarkable, just a normal shirt like any other Steve would wear, except for that fact that it was just a tiny bit too small for Steve’s enormous muscle mass and the tiny logo of his shield on the chest on the left side. It did not look completely out of place, his usual shirts had stars on them as well, but he tended to avoid anything that had a direct connection to Captain America and the rapidly expanding merchandise line surrounding his name.

Steve kept pulling at the sleeves as he walked into the common room, where Natasha was sitting on the couch, previously engrossed in a magazine.

“New shirt?” She asked and Steve looked uncomfortable.

“I don’t know to be honest. I guess. I must have picked it up a while ago though, I can’t remember buying it.”

“Mhm.” Natasha nodded. “Looks good.”

“Thanks.” Steve gave an awkward smile before continuing to the kitchen.

 

 

 

The next time happened when Natasha passed the laundry room. Why the Avengers Tower even had a laundry room was all to thanks to Steve. He had insisted on doing his own laundry despite Tony’s protests that they could send it to a cleaner, no problem, but Steve was stubborn in that aspect so Tony had bought a washing machine and a dryer and one of the spare rooms in the tower was converted to a laundry room.

Steve was standing in front of the dryer holding up a shirt, staring at it intensely. Natasha stopped and took a better look. The shirt in question was bright blue and had a huge print of Steve’s shield on the front. Steve shook his head and dropped in the wet shirt in the dryer. He closed it and started it before he noticed Natasha in the doorway.

“Nice shirt.” She said with a snicker.

“Thanks.” Steve rubbed the back of his neck. “Don’t know where I got it from.”

Natasha nodded and continued on her way leaving Steve to ponder on his own.

 

 

 

Two days later she caught a not so sneaky someone on the way into the laundry room. He left the door open and she silently entered behind him.

Tony had just interrupted the washing cycle and was busy pulling out Steve’s laundry, tossing aside wet pants and towels, muttering something about those needing to be washed separately anyway until he found a plain gray shirt and tossed it over his shoulder. Natasha ducked it and watched Tony pulling out a white buddled up shirt from underneath his own. He unfolded it, revealing the giant American flag on the front. He laughed before tossing it into the washing machine, stuffing the rest of Steve’s clothes after it and restarting the cycle. He turned around and screamed. Natasha raised an eyebrow at him.

“It’s not what it looks like.” Tony tried to explain scrambling backwards.

“Uh hu.” Natasha stared him down and Tony ducked behind her to pick up the thrown away shirt from the ground.

“You need to stop. Poor Steve.” Natasha scolded.

“Nonono.” Tony straightened himself in front of Natasha. “We- I can’t stop now. You see, it’s a very delicate process, he hasn’t even noticed yet.” Natasha crossed her arms and shook her head. “At least get them in his size.” She threw back at the engineer before leaving the laundry room. “Where’s the fun in that?” Tony laughed.

 

 

 

Clint and Bruce were better at it. She only noticed them when they had already completed their mischief in Steve’s room. It didn’t take long for Clint to spill the whole plan, Bruce trying to keep calm, holding his head in one hand, shaking it at every word Clint said.

“Only a few shirts, Natasha, they are really cool, one has this giant eagle on it with the American flag in the background, and one even has a comic version of Cap.” Natasha glared at him and she shrunk back against the wall before she turned her gaze to Bruce who evaded eye contact and muttered something about having to do his exercises before shuffling away. She shook her head, Clint smiled apologetically and she rolled her eyes before walking off.

 

The shirt caught her eye when she was out with Pepper. They did not do shopping trips often due to their busy schedules, but occasionally they both found time. Natasha didn’t know what compelled her to walk over to the men’s section of the store and pull out the red and blue shirt. It had a white #1 on the front and Captain America written underneath it in a sparkly font. She stared at it for a good while until Pepper noticed she was gone.

“That’s one ugly shirt.” Pepper remarked walking up behind her. “It is…” Natasha reluctantly agreed then shrugged and dropped the shirt into her basket. Pepper threw her a questioning look. “It’s nothing.” Natasha reassured her friend, who did not look convinced.

“Tony picked up a similar one last time we were out.” Pepper said.

“Mhm.”

 

 

The explosion came two weeks later. Steve stormed into the common room, where for once every Avenger and even Bucky where present. He wore a bright red shirt with a giant print of his log on the front that was stretched taunt over his chest and arm muscles.

Thor had just returned from a trip to Asgard and was sitting at the kitchen counter enjoying a hearty breakfast despite the fact that it was five in the afternoon. Tony, Bruce and Clint were huddled on the big couch in the middle while Natasha lounged on the smaller one reading a book. Bucky sat in the armchair off to the side, knees pulled up and engrossed in his Stark pad. The big TV was on and an episode of Games of Thrones had just finished.

“This needs to stop.” Steve raised a fist full of shirts, most of them some kind of red, blue and white combination. They all looked up at his outburst, ignorance on all faces, some real some faked, some faked better than others.

“What are you talking about?” Bruce asked calmly, removing his glasses. Steve let out a frustrated groan. “This!” He pulled apart the bundle of shirts showing off the ridiculous collection of Captain America merchandise. “I never bought these shirts, they don’t fit, I don’t want them! And all my other shirts have vanished!” He bunched them up again. “If I find out that one of you went into my closet again, it will have consequences.” He gestured with the bundle across the room, making eye contact with every single one of the Avengers. The armchair Bucky had occupied a moment ago was empty and Steve’s eyes narrowed in confusion. Bucky was the last one he had suspected, since he had mostly kept to himself and not talked to anybody much ever since he had regained some of his memories. He glared at Tony again for good measure before walking out of the room.

“Does the Captain not like his shirts?” Thor asked confused. Tony and Clint grinned at each other and Natasha hid a smile behind her book.

 

 

 

“Who was it?” Steve stormed into the common room again just a day later wearing an equally tight shirt this time in blue. “Who was in my closet?”

The setup was much the same as the previous evening, except Thor had now joined the trio on the couch and was holding a controller in his hand, eyes focused on the screen. He and Clint were having a race off on the rainbow road in Mario Cart, which Thor insisted on calling Rainbow Bridge. “Victory!” He exclaimed and jumped up from the couch, he had just crossed the finish line. Clint groaned as he fell off the road for the seventeenth time. Tony had been counting. Clint dropped the controller on the table. “I’m done, somebody else can race this maniac.”

Steve glared at them getting angrier by each second they were ignoring him. Once again it was Bruce who talked first. “What’s wrong, Steve?”

“Somebody was in my closet, AGAIN and this time they left a giant mess. I honestly thought you would be a little less obvious if you tried again.” He crossed his arms.

Tony raised his hands and tried to look innocent. “Wasn’t me.”

“Me neither.” Clint said getting up from the couch and walking over to the kitchen.

Natasha dropped the book into her lap. “I don’t leave messes behind.” Steve nodded, she had a point.

“Do you still have shirt problems, Captain.” Thor asked. “Something like that.” Steve muttered. Thor was the only one with an alibi so he was out, but who was it then. He looked around the room at each one of them. They were all looking at him expectantly, all except for one. Bucky sat curled up in the armchair, his Stark pad with the red star on it held up in front of his face, his knees pulled up to his chest, something was off.

“Bucky.” Steve said and the man flinched. Only now Steve noticed that Bucky was not wearing a hoodie like usual and the shirt color seemed unfamiliar. Bucky usually stuck to dark greens and greys, sometimes black, but the shirt he was wearing now was red and even though it almost entirely covered up by Bucky’s legs Steve could just make out a tiny bit of blue on it too.

“Are you wearing my shirt?” Steve asked incredulously. A moment of silence as everybody turned to Bucky who shrunk back into the chair a little more if that was even possible, before he let out a sigh and unfolded from the arm chair, revealing his shirt that sported Cap’s shield on the front.

“You said you didn’t like them and they didn’t fit.” He said nonchalantly. While Bucky was well-built he was no genetically engineered super soldier and just a little bit smaller than Steve, so the shirt fit him perfectly. “I like them.” He shrugged.

Steve was stunned for a second, staring at his friend, before breaking out into laughter. Bucky looked at Steve in confusion. “I can give them back if you want.”

Steve held up his hand. “No, no, no, keep them. Actually, you can have them all. They will look so much better on you.” He smiled at his friend and for the first time in months Bucky smiled as well.


End file.
